Tag Archives: new york

REVIEW: THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN by Hallie Ephron

by mwgerard Posted on April 11, 2013

Therewasanoldwoman-HC-hi-res-final

 

Perhaps what makes this novel so frightening is that it could happen to anyone.  The devious plan is so deceptively simple that it barely registers as out of place.

The narrative alternates between two feisty heroines — Mina, an elderly resident of the quiet Higgs Point neighborhood in the Bronx and Evie, a young, talented, workaholic curator for a New York historical society.  Evie has managed to escape her paltry childhood surroundings and all its unfortunate memories.  She has crafted a life, albeit with blinders on, in Manhattan.  It’s not so far as the crow flies, but it’s worlds away from her beginnings.  When Evie’s mom suffers another alcohol-induced health crash, her sister Ginger insists it’s “Evie’s turn” to deal with crisis.  In truth, both sisters are mentally and emotionally exhausted by their mother’s continued failings.  Evie guiltily accepts her role and shuffles off to Higgs Point.

Meanwhile, Mina Yetner is the quintessential cranky old lady.  But she is sharp as a tack and uses her busybody skills to help others in the neighborhood.  When her neighbor, Evie’s mother, is taken away in an ambulance she is the one who calls the daughters.  Mina and Evie strike up an unlikely partnership while Evie begins to clean up her mother’s house and sort estate matters.

I was reminded of Gaslight while reading this.  Because of the dueling points-of-view, the reader is left to wonder where the reality is.  Is there senility at work?  Or perhaps the protagonist just isn’t seeing what they want to ignore?  The suspense continually builds even as the characters begin to discover pieces of the puzzle.

July 1945
July 1945

Ephron works in crucial historical details that bring this book out of the realm of cheap thrills.  For example, Evie’s current exhibit at the museum includes a display related to the B52 bomber that flew into the Empire State Building.  And there is a minor thread surrounding Betty Lou Oliver who survived the 75-story drop when elevator cables broke.  These things really happened and Ephron uses them to great effect.  They make the story much, much richer.

The setting, Higgs Point, is not exactly that, but it is based on a real area.  Harding Park did once have an amusement park (another subplot) at the turn-of-the-century.  Here is a great post from Forgotten NY on the area.  By tying the story so closely to reality, it is all the more frightening.

The novel is an approachable one and is easily read in a quiet afternoon.  I look forward to more by Hallie Ephron.

Many thanks to the kind folks at William Morrow for the advanced review copy.
___________________

ISBN: 9780062117601
ISBN10: 0062117602
Imprint: William Morrow
On Sale: 4/2/2013
Format: Hardcover
Trimsize: 6 x 9
Pages: 304; $25.99
Ages: 18 and Up

Posted in books, cineastes bookshelf, review | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

REVIEW: THE KINGDOM OF OHIO by Matthew Flaming

by mwgerard Posted on November 30, 2010
“He thinks of numbers and electricity, reason and magic.”
I am hardly a fan of science fiction or fantasy — at least not the contemporary version of it.  But Matthew Flaming manages to reinvent a Jules Verne-esque adventure.  And in the midst of the action, finds quiet moments to consider how history is written, and remembered.  How permanent is memory?  Can a photograph be evidence of anything?
Peter Force leaves the frozen hills of Idaho in search of something better in fin de siecle NYC.  Struggling, he takes a job as a digger of the first subway tunnels.  His natural ability to understand mechanics lands him a promotion of sorts to the machine shop.  One afternoon he sees a woman stumble in the park, and he is possessed by an urge to help her.  His actions are innocent enough, but once she confides in him about her strange past, he quickly becomes embroiled in a secret race between Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison and JP Morgan.  
Financeer JP Morgan
The young woman is an heir to a lost kingdom in Ohio.  The Latoledan family was given tracts of land in the Louisiana Purchase and allowed to keep their autonomy throughout the Revolution and the Civil War.  Toledo was their capital and for a time they flourished.  But as Manifest Destiny took hold, and subsequent generations mismanaged their land, the kingdom shrank to a speck on the map.  It seems she is the only surviving Latoledan — only because she escaped the siege via a transportation machine she worked on with Tesla (in this way, it reminds me of Christopher Priest’s The Prestige and the “New Transported Man”). 
Inventor Nikola Tesla
It sounds far-fetched when I say it, but Flaming’s book is surprising believable.  There is just enough truth to make it all plausible.  This was new science for these steampunk inventors.  Tesla and Edison truly were experimenting with the unknown.  Flaming never strays too far from established history, and he inserts completely believable footnotes and references.  It was convincing enough that I had to investigate for myself.  
I’ll leave that discovery to the reader, but I will say that a search of Peter Force came back with exciting results.  There was a Peter Force, who was descended from a French Hugenot family, and was a minor politician in early America.  His was a printer, editor and collector of documents and founded the American Archives.  His personal collection was also purchased by the US Government to start the Library of Congress.  I am certain this is no coincidence.  In fact, nothing in this novel is a coincidence.  Each string of thought leads to another, when it just as easily could have led to a third — not unlike the labyrinthine tunnels under the city streets.
Flaming’s form is also satisfying.  His narrator reveals himself slowly.  It is only in the last few pages that the whole picture is seen, yet it is not a gimmick.  The novel is not about the narrator — or at least, not only about the narrator.  It is about something much larger and grander than we can comprehend.  And therein lies its draw.  
___
Many thanks to Caitlin at Berkley Publishing for the review copy.  Also visit www.kingdomofohio.com.
Book: Paperback | 8.26 x 5.23in | 336 pages | ISBN 9780425236949 | 07 Dec 2010 | Berkley | 18 – AND UP

Posted in books, cineastes bookshelf, review | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mulberry and Prince Streets

by mwgerard Posted on April 1, 2010

It is a slow afternoon in Savannah, as it is often. I found a lovely little link to the New York Public Library’s online digital collection. The only thing missing from sifting through these lovely bits of ephemera are the smells of aged inks and shedding paper.
I came across this photo, one I’m sure I must have seen in my study of street photography (self-inflicted) but for some reason, today, it punched me in the stomach.

Mulberry and Prince Streets, M... Digital ID: 482588. New York Public Library

I’m not entirely sure why. The shadowy figure in the foreground is very mysterious. Someone is hurrying along their way, but is he up to no good? What hides beneath his swirling cape?
The building that is now for rent, who used to live there? What happened; why did they leave? it looks tragic, haunted. It is worn, but not with love. It looks beaten and bruised.
The men standing on the corner seem to be speaking in hushed tones. Are they gossiping about the former tenants? Is the man with the pushcart, or the cargo truck waiting to haul the last possessions of the unfortunate tenants?

Berenice Abbott, like her mentor Eugene Atget, set out to record, capture and memorialize the changes taking place in the their cities (Ny and Paris, respectively). Both claimed to be record keepers, rather than artists, yet they are still regarded and some of the most important photographers in the medium’s short history. I think this photo proves that it was more than just memorializing a building or a street corner. She was capture a mood as well.

Posted in insatiable theic, photography, tumblr | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment